The Braves, who are usually potent on offensive, remained relatively silent on Monday.
They lost to the Angels, 4-1, at Truist Park.
Five observations:
1. Last week, the Angels acquired Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez. On Sunday, they traded for C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk.
In Tuesday’s game, Grichuk homered off Charlie Morton. Cron hit a run-scoring single in the ninth inning. Lopez held the Braves scoreless over 1 2/3 innings of relief.
Angels general manager Perry Minasian, who made the moves, was once in Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos’ front office.
“Their lineup looked pretty good today,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I think what Perry has done has been really good, and the additions. I think they’ve made some good moves. When they get (Mike) Trout back (from the injured list), holy cow. That lineup, I told Perry today, it’s a nice lineup. It’s balanced. I’ve been a fan of Cron for a long time. Grichuk has been playing really good. Those are good gets for them.”
MLB’s trade deadline is Tuesday at 6 p.m., which leads us to our next point.
2. The Braves do not need to make multiple splashes, as the Angels did. Atlanta’s roster is well-positioned for a deep postseason run. The Braves have few holes.
Anthopoulos, however, always operates with the mindset that his team can improve.
“I trust him,” Austin Riley said. “He’s obviously really good at his job. Full support from me. Whatever he does – if he does anything, I don’t know, I’m not sure. The guys in our clubhouse right now, I’d go to war (with them). I’d take them in the playoffs right now.”
In the last few days, starting pitchers have flown off the board. Those arms have been rather expensive in a few cases. It might be a seller’s market.
Contenders always need starting pitching.
“It’s a huge thing,” Snitker said. “Nobody has enough, as we know. Even in spring training when we’re getting guys ready and we do all that, that’s why you accumulate depth and guys with options, because you just never have enough of it.”
Snitker didn’t have any thoughts on the trade deadline. He only noted that trades occur until then, as evidenced by the Braves acquiring Raisel Iglesias minutes before last year’s deadline.
We’ll wait until 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
“Up until then, I think anything can happen, as we’ve seen,” Snitker said. “It’s kind of a fun day to turn on the network and watch in the morning and afternoon. A lot of guys are off the board already this year. A lot of activity early.”
3. The Angels listed Griffin Canning as Monday’s probable starter. In the morning, Snitker received a call from Los Angeles manager Phil Nevin.
The Angels, Nevin told Snitker, were actually starting righty Chase Silseth. They scratched Canning.
The 23-year-old Silseth held the Braves to a run over five innings. His four-seam fastball averaged 95.6 mph. His stuff looked good.
“Just kind of watching the ball coming out of his hand and looking at the numbers, it seemed like it was playing up to me,” Snitker said. “We weren’t taking real good swings at him, that’s for sure. So there was something going on there.”
4. The first batter of the game, Luis Rengifo, took Morton deep. Morton battled through the first inning, which seemed to set an ominous tone for his outing.
Then he eventually completed six innings while permitting three runs – on three solo homers. Morton was encouraged by his delivery and his curveball.
Despite this being a quality start, Morton wanted those three pitches back, for different reasons.
The Rengifo homer: “That’s just a bad count, 2-0 heater.”
The fourth-inning blast from Grichuk, whom Morton said has always seen him well: “I did him a favor, in terms of timing. Because I’m throwing a cutter at 88 to 90 miles per hour. He’s out in front at 88 to 90, and I threw him a heater right down the middle, and then he goes the other way with it, it’s pretty much what you would expect him to do and what I would expect him to do based on my memory and my history with him.”
Chad Wallach’s sixth-inning homer on a first-pitch fastball over the plate: “The last one bothered me because that’s a pitch I shouldn’t even have thrown. A heater right there is just not the pitch.”
5. The Braves collected four hits. They had only two at-bats with runners in scoring position. They left six men on base.
The Angels pitched really, really well.
Stat to know
200 - Matt Olson’s fifth-inning homer was the 200th this season for Atlanta. The Braves joined the 2019 Twins (209) as the only teams in MLB history to hit 200 homers before August.
Quotable
“I like where we’re at right now. Whatever happens, happens. But if we were to start the playoffs tomorrow, I would like our chances and like where we’re at. Getting Max (Fried) back. A.J. (Minter) came back tonight and threw the ball really well. It’s just a matter of time, getting all that back together and get growing.”-Riley on the upcoming deadline
Up next
On Tuesday, Spencer Strider will face Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval. First pitch is at 7:20 p.m.
